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New Delhi : Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act calling it unconstitutional and untenable. The section gave powers to police to arrest a person for posting allegedly "offensive" content on websites and made it a crime punishable by jail up to three years.
The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal, who sought amendment in Section 66A of the Act.
Summary of today's judgement of apex court bench of Justice J. Chelameswar & Justice R.F. Nariman in WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO.167 Of 2012 -
"(a)Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is struck down in its entirety being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2).
(b)Section 69A and the Information Technology (Procedure & Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 are constitutionally valid.
(c)Section 79 is valid subject to Section 79(3)(b) being read down to mean that an intermediary upon receiving actual knowledge from a court order or on being notified by the appropriate government or its agency that unlawful acts relatable to Article 19(2) are going to be committed then fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to such material. Similarly, the Information Technology “Intermediary Guidelines” Rules, 2011 are valid subject to Rule 3 sub-rule (4) being read down in the same manner as indicated in the judgment.
(d)Section 118(d)Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act is struck down being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved by Article 19(2)."
Copy of judgement is available at http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=42510